How to install an AI agent on your own computer — the honest 15-minute walkthrough.

Quick orientation: you type a message, the agent reads it and either does something on your computer (looking at files, running a command) or reaches out to the internet (searching, fetching). Then it reports back. Installing it locally is what makes the "acts on your computer" part possible — a chatbot in a browser tab can't read your files. That's the whole point of this exercise.

Pick your operating system

All three paths land in the same place. Follow only your own.

🪟 Windows

1. Open PowerShell as administrator. Click Start, type PowerShell, right-click Windows PowerShell, choose Run as administrator, click Yes. You should see a blue window with a PS C:\...> prompt. (No "Run as administrator" option? You're left-clicking — right-click instead. Work machine without admin rights? You'll need IT or a personal computer.)

2. Paste this command and press Enter:

iex (irm https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.ps1)

Text will scroll for 1–3 minutes — downloading, installing, setting up. If Windows shows a security warning about scripts from the internet, that's standard; the installer comes from the official Hermes site. If it errors, copy the exact message — 90% of failures are a missing dependency that one extra command fixes.

3. Press Enter for any installer questions. The defaults are right for almost everyone.

4. Close PowerShell, reopen it (regular this time, not administrator), then type hermes and press Enter. Windows sometimes needs a fresh session to recognize newly installed programs — if it says "command not found," this is the fix.

🍎 Mac

1. Open Terminal. Press Command + Space, type Terminal, press Enter. A window opens with your computer name and a $ or % and a blinking cursor. (Can't find it? Applications → Utilities → Terminal.)

2. Paste this command and press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

Installation text scrolls for 1–3 minutes. If you see a permission request, type your Mac password and press Enter — the password won't display as you type, which is normal and throws people constantly.

3. Press Enter through the installer prompts — defaults are correct.

4. Type hermes and press Enter. If your Mac says "command not found," close Terminal and reopen it — that refreshes the environment.

🐧 Linux

1. Open a terminal — usually Ctrl+Alt+T, or search "Terminal" in your app launcher.

2. Paste this command and press Enter:

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

curl not installed? Run sudo apt install curl (Ubuntu/Debian) or sudo dnf install curl (Fedora), then retry.

3. Press Enter through the prompts.

4. Type hermes and press Enter. If the command isn't found, run source ~/.bashrc (or source ~/.zshrc) and try again.

The screen you're looking for

Whichever path you took, success looks the same — a welcome banner and a prompt waiting for input, something like:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│   ☤   Welcome to Hermes Agent                   │
│                                                 │
│   Type a message and press Enter.               │
│   Type /help for commands, /exit to quit.       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

> ▋

The one test that proves it's working

Don't take the welcome screen's word for it. Type exactly this at the prompt:

Say hello and tell me what operating system I'm running.

If the agent responds with a greeting and correctly identifies your operating system — "You're running macOS 15 on an Apple Silicon Mac," for example — installation is done and verified. Everything works. If it responds but gets the OS slightly wrong, that's a quirk, not a problem. If it doesn't respond at all, check your internet connection and start again with hermes.

What you have now

An AI agent running locally on your own machine. It can chat, and — once configured — read files, run commands, and act on multi-step tasks. The configuration step (connecting a model and API keys) is the next 5 minutes, and it's where the 15-minute setup checklist picks up this guide's story: exits, constraints, and safety rails that make the agent actually useful instead of just installed.

Frequently asked questions